Convoluted contract logic in pro wrestling

[Loss]

This should be fun. Let's talk about weird wrestling logic as it relates to contracts. A few things that spring to mind:

 

* Shawn Michaels signing a contract prepared for Chris Benoit to face HHH at Wrestlemania. This legal dilemma resulted in WWE making the Wrestlemania XX main event a three-way * Vince Russo's endless "fine print" get out of booking jail free card crap

* Contract signings frequently happening weeks after a match has been officially announced. What if someone changed their mind during the contract signing? Does that mean the match won't happen? And why do only some matches require contracts to be signed but not all of them? Or do they and they only televise certain ones?

* Managers "purchasing the contracts" of wrestlers in old territories frequently. So did that mean every wrestler had a contract? Who owned the contract for wrestlers that didn't have managers? The promotion? Does that mean that wrestlers who are managed work for the manager and not the promotion? Is the manager then employed by the promotion with the wrestlers as third parties? Are all wrestler contracts for sale to evil managers if that's the case?

[Death From Above]

Funny I've been trying to think of how the magical Mystery Partner works into all this logic recently myself. Like, how do you trick a functional adult into signing a match to wrestle "any random person on earth I can find who I am pretty sure can beat you, and I don't have to tell you who it is until 5 seconds before the mach"?

 

I'd make fun of babyfaces for always getting attacked at contract signings and never learning, but boxing has been doing the same angle for over a decade now so I guess that's more real than we give it credit for. Wink wink.

[mookeighana]

* Managers "purchasing the contracts" of wrestlers in old territories frequently. So did that mean every wrestler had a contract? Who owned the contract for wrestlers that didn't have managers? The promotion? Does that mean that wrestlers who are managed work for the manager and not the promotion? Is the manager then employed by the promotion with the wrestlers as third parties? Are all wrestler contracts for sale to evil managers if that's the case?

I assumed it was that the Wrestler had signed a contract agreeing to have their business interests managed by a certain entity, i.e. "Mr. Fuji Incorporated". In exchange for some of the purse, the manager agrees to protect that wrestler's general interests (including, but not limited to, transportion & lodging needs, match promotion, promotional materials including interview supplementation, "external bias nullification" - i.e. ensuring opponents will not try to use underhanded tactics to secure victories and general publicity). However, that manager could then sell their controlling interests in that entity to another manager organization, and hence " Mr. Fuji Incorporated" was now controlled by Sensational Sherri.

[Loss]

This thread is awesome already! So I guess the famed manager's license is just a way for the promotion to get a piece of the action by implementing what amounts to a tax on managers?

[Death From Above]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's all a tax scheme. After all look how many of those managed guys in the territories were foreigners that didn't even speak English.

 

Kamala, Killer Khan, and several Russians were probably screwed out of millions in wrestling purse money by the likes of Skandor Akbar. Which if you think about it is pretty brave. How'd you like to be in the room when Khan finds out you stole his money?

[ButchReedMark]

* Shawn Michaels signing a contract prepared for Chris Benoit to face HHH at Wrestlemania. This legal dilemma resulted in WWE making the Wrestlemania XX main event a three-way

I've often wondered about that kind of thing. If Shawn Michaels signs his name on a contract that clearly states "Chris Benoit" all over it, surely it can't be legally binding? They should have got Clarence Mason in to look at that as part of the build up to the match.

 

Another legal wrangle I didn't understand was the feud of the rights to the letter T between Booker T and Big T. How does Booker T own T? And how did the ownership of the letter T get put up in a match anyway? I believe Clarence Mason was front and centre with that one as well.

[Marty]

Ric Flair being the "consortium" that purchased Shane's and Stephanie's shares of the WWF (when they bought WCW and ECW), even though a consortium is techically plural (whether it be individuals, companies, associations, etc.) If anything, the WWF ownership at the time would've been a consortium then (the Vince/Ric partnership).

 

Oh yeah, and Flair lost his half to Vince in a hotshot match. No wonder he's got financial troubles. He should be suing Steve Austin for that one.

[Loss]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's all a tax scheme. After all look how many of those managed guys in the territories were foreigners that didn't even speak English.

 

Kamala, Killer Khan, and several Russians were probably screwed out of millions in wrestling purse money by the likes of Skandor Akbar. Which if you think about it is pretty brave. How'd you like to be in the room when Khan finds out you stole his money?

I wonder what the deliverables were in Akbar's contracts with wrestlers.

 

Also, why would Randy Savage pick an unknown woman over every top manager in the WWF? Did Elizabeth have a fine understanding of how to negotiate title shots? Was she so desperate for money that she was willing to be abused by her client all those years? Did they always have a romantic partnership, or did that develop from a business relationship? Or is that too personal?

[Marty]

Another one: When the Rougeaus aligned with Jimmy Hart, they got 50% of the Harts' contracts. What does that mean? Does Jimmy get the other 50% or the Harts? Can a tag team's contract be sold that way to another tag team that aren't managers? Or did Jimmy and the Rougeaus get all the money? If so, why didn't the Harts jump ship? Bret *was* talking to WCW, no?

 

Fuck, Michael Cole's explanation before the Punk-Lesnar match on Sunday at least made sense: "Once Paul realized he couldn't make money off of Punk, he turned on him."

[Death From Above]

Oh yeah, and Flair lost his half to Vince in a hotshot match. No wonder he's got financial troubles. He should be suing Steve Austin for that one.

Really I wish more corporate problems in the world today were settled in wrestling matches. It would be so much simpler that way.

[Marty]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's all a tax scheme. After all look how many of those managed guys in the territories were foreigners that didn't even speak English.

 

Kamala, Killer Khan, and several Russians were probably screwed out of millions in wrestling purse money by the likes of Skandor Akbar. Which if you think about it is pretty brave. How'd you like to be in the room when Khan finds out you stole his money?

I wonder what the deliverables were in Akbar's contracts with wrestlers.

 

Also, why would Randy Savage pick an unknown woman over every top manager in the WWF? Did Elizabeth have a fine understanding of how to negotiate title shots? Was she so desperate for money that she was willing to be abused by her client all those years? Did they always have a romantic partnership, or did that develop from a business relationship? Or is that too personal?

 

If you believed people like Bad News Brown and Jesse Ventura, Liz's eyes helped Jack Tunney give Randy Savage a favourable position all those years.

[Loss]

I love pro wrestling.

[JerryvonKramer]

I've always wanted to know what Hercules's contract looked like when Dibiase "bought" him as a slave. Did he have a legal status of a slave? Was Ted in contravenance of anti-slavery laws passed by Lincoln?

 

 

The Million Dollar Man played fast and loose with the contract rules. Did Virgil have an official manager's license? Did he ever formally sell Andre's contract back to Heenan? What was the paperwork involved in his purchase of Saphire?

[Loss]

Ric Flair being the "consortium" that purchased Shane's and Stephanie's shares of the WWF (when they bought WCW and ECW), even though a consortium is techically plural (whether it be individuals, companies, associations, etc.) If anything, the WWF ownership at the time would've been a consortium then (the Vince/Ric partnership).

 

Oh yeah, and Flair lost his half to Vince in a hotshot match. No wonder he's got financial troubles. He should be suing Steve Austin for that one.

He probably also has grounds to sue Brock Lesnar, since Brock cost him the match.

[Death From Above]

Brock would just F5 the judge then stand tall while lightning rained down from heaven.

[Marty]

I've always wanted to know what Hercules's contract looked like when Dibiase "bought" him as a slave. Did he have a legal status of a slave? Was Ted in contravenance of anti-slavery laws passed by Lincoln?

 

 

The Million Dollar Man played fast and loose with the contract rules. Did Virgil have an official manager's license? Did he ever formally sell Andre's contract back to Heenan? What was the paperwork involved in his purchase of Saphire?

If you recall, Herc stated that his contract with Heenan stated that Heenan took in 75% of his earnings. That's almost slave-like.

[Loss]

I've always wanted to know what Hercules's contract looked like when Dibiase "bought" him as a slave. Did he have a legal status of a slave? Was Ted in contravenance of anti-slavery laws passed by Lincoln?

 

I would be surprised if DiBiase's high-priced lawyers didn't make sure this transaction was performed in Mississippi.

[Loss]

If anyone makes a kayfabed resume for any manager, you win the Internet.

 

Jim Cornette seems like the best manager on the surface. He was well-financed, had a family-owned and operated enterprise, preferred to have one client, specialized specifically in tag teams and was fiercely loyal and involved in day-to-day operations. He was willing to fight for his clients and against the bigwigs. Yes, he had a big mouth and sometimes his clients ended up in hot water as a result, but they had more success than failure. His only separate venture was doing color commentary and briefly having his own talk show, but by and large, his clients came first.

[mookeighana]

I've always wanted to know what Hercules's contract looked like when Dibiase "bought" him as a slave. Did he have a legal status of a slave? Was Ted in contravenance of anti-slavery laws passed by Lincoln?

 

 

The Million Dollar Man played fast and loose with the contract rules. Did Virgil have an official manager's license? Did he ever formally sell Andre's contract back to Heenan? What was the paperwork involved in his purchase of Saphire?

13th amendment: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

 

Perhaps Hercules was in fact duly convicted a crime? Or, perhaps Hercules had enlisted in a legal military unit (the Paul Jones Army?!) and was deemed to be a deserter, which put his freedom in jeopardy.

[Marty]

I just realized that one of the reasons the New World Order was so successful was because they succeeded in confidentiality and contracts better than a lot of governments probably do. The one time they had a public contract signing, something was wrong (Hogan's signature was forged). Lesson learned: Hogan is the ultimate top secret security clearance godfather and if he's serious about signing you, he'll tell very privately. Nasty Boys should've seen it coming.

[KrisZ]

Well the godfather of this trope is Grand Wizard selling Pat Patterson's contract to Lou Albano in December 1979 with Patterson saying he wouldn't work for that fat slob and turned babyface.

[Loss]

The Paul Jones Army was more of a militia, wasn't it? I think DiBiase broke the law, but you know he probably had several high-priced lawyers that would make sure he never served time. Perhaps he was being investigated for this very issue when he entered the corrupt relationship with the IRS a few years later.

[Gregor]

I'm pretty sure that there's no way you can get a legally binding contract that allows child custody to be determined via ladder match. Where was child services in all of that?

 

I assume there's something in wrestling contracts that accounts for the volatile nature of the characters who populate the sport and the violence inherent in the sport itself. I mean, Austin attempted to murder HHH. It looked like it was more than just trying to win the match, but I guess you can argue that it was like a boxing match in which one boxer ends up dying - just a hazard of the sport. I don't think I've ever seen anyone face legal trouble for causing injuries during a run-in, though, and that certainly can't be argued as just part of a wrestling match, as it's clearly premeditated assault. But then there's stuff like Vince McMahon getting arrested for assaulting Steve Austin and Kevin Nash getting arrested for performing a move banned by the promotion for which he works, and I end up having no idea what in wrestling is actually punishable by law.

[Loss]

Bobby Heenan had to have violated FCPA regulations when he convinced Sonny Onoo that he owned WCW in 1995, by the way.

[mookeighana]

Actually, this discussion about how restrictive could a manager contract really be, does remind me a lot of the non-compete contract that Brock Lesnar signed and then sued WWE about in 2005.

 

You can read the complaint, a copy of Brock's 2003 contract and the WWE response here: http://the-w.com/downloads/older/

 

They eventually settled when it became evident that WWE couldn't enforce a worldwide non-compete in all Wrestling and MMA, but you can see the sort of legal quandry they dipped their toes in.